Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 23, 1997

Akhvi Mohammad, [executive vice president], came for current affairs. He has returned from a trip to Nuq. He said that the pistachio crop in Behrman and Nematabad and around us was not damaged by the cold, but many areas in Rafsanjan were badly damaged. All in all, 40% have been damaged.

Mr. [Hamid] Mirzadeh, [Head of the Program and Budget Organization] and Mr. Dr. [Abbas Ali] Zali came and gave the report of the completed work of statistics [General Census of 1375]. Good indicators have been obtained in terms of economy, construction, employment, production, etc. They applied to finance water scarcity relief projects in Tehran.

Mr. [Ali Mohammad] Basharti, the Minister of State, informed that Akhvi Mohammad said that he wants to go to the Ministry of Interior tomorrow to register for the [presidential] elections. I asked on the phone; Mohammad said he was joking. In the evening, in the meeting of the government board, we had some resolutions. It was decided to establish the Africa Foundation project as a government company; We reached this conclusion in consultation with the leadership.

In the evening, the central council of the militant clergy community [Tehran] had a meeting in my office. Mr. Natiq [Nuri] and his friends are worried about the results of the presidential election and their morale is weak. They think that their main competitor Mr. Khatami has a better advertising plan. They complain about the inactivity of the community secretariat. Disagreements have arisen in the community of educators in Qom, which has ruined the announced approval of Mr. Natiq and has worsened the situation. They asked me to help them. I said that I have declared neutrality, but they can use my name as I am a member of the society. I gave some encouragement, by explaining the facilities that they have through the mosques, scholars, and Muharram programs. I slept late in my office.